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Rebels should recruit from International 7s

Roar Guru
24th March, 2010
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Roar Guru
24th March, 2010
32
2369 Reads

The player signings, or lack thereof, to the Melbourne Rebels must surely be making a number of people nervous about their debut season.

Whilst I have no doubt they will be able to fill the ranks with a number of amateurs from around the country, more needs to be done to recruit a number of quality professional players.

Currently, five professional players (that I know of) have been signed to the Rebels (Laurie Weeks, Adam Byrnes, Danny Cipriani, Lachie Mitchell and Richard Kingi).

Mark Gasnier is also a favourite to sign.

After recently watching the Adelaide Sevens over the weekend, it occured to me: if the ARU have allowed up to ten international signatures for the Rebels, why are the Rebels not looking at the Sevens competitions for players?

We already know the benefits of the 7 man game to the 15 code (do I need to name the number of Wallabies that have come through this form of the game?)

Is there a reason why this hasn’t occurred?

One argument is that Rod McQueen is hoping to fill the roster with mostly Australians “for the good of the Australian game”. He has also stated that he doesn’t just want “mercenaries” coming for the money.

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However, time is running out.

Would it cost a lot of money to sign these players? Definitely not.

I found an article which describes that the Samoan team is basically “playing for nothing,” where players only are paid $100 a week to cover food and transport and a further $200 if they win the tournament. Compare that to an Australian Sevens player, who currently earns approximately $5000 per tournament on top of a generous base salary.

So what is stopping Rod Mcqueen from signing players such as:
– Mikaela Pesamino (25, Samoa): Player of the series so far. 31 tries in 2007-08. Signed to Auckland Sevens NPC.
– Lolo Lui (27, Samoa): Plays club rugby for Moataa, Samoa
– William Ryder (27, Fiji): One of the highest points scorers to date in the Sevens. Currently not signed with any 15s side.
– Waiseli Beci (21, Fiji): Player of the future. Plays for Police Blues, Fiji.
– Collins Injera (23, Kenya): Highest try-scorer in 2008-09 with 42 tries. Plays in Nairobi.

And there are a number of others.

It may be wishful thinking at this stage to recruit Australians playing abroad when it seems that the majority of contracts are signed. Here is an opportunity to recruit fast, attacking players with the natural ability to score.

Not only would they bring a great degree of running rugby, but will certainly turn the Rebels into an exciting squad with a wide squad of talent from around the world.

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